EP Review: En Amor – DrewsThatDude

Today HW&W Recordings released DrewsThatDude’s EP En Amor, a project on whichit seems like he chose to remain comfortable rather than seriously straining any creative muscles. En Amor feels relaxed and some tracks not only sound similar to others songs within the EP, but also songs produced over a year ago. “Water” is the more upbeat, funky sibling to “Addiction” with a similar selection of synth sounds and the prominence of the pipe organ keyboard chords. “Aprodite” is a more polished and mature version of “Crystalline”. In “Relapse” he uses the piano line to the same effect as in his remixes of Beyoncé’s “Drunk in Love” and Drake and Jhene Aiko’s “From Time”. “Iced Tea” at times seems to borrow a bit from one his other many collaborations with Fortune, “Intermission for Love”.

The flip-side of not pushing the limits of his sound and style is that every track is strong. He’s taken what he knows works well and cleaned it up even further for a polished quality project. So really, it doesn’t matter whether or not a track is similar to something he’s already produced. The horns, snaps, and claps on “Aphrodite” still hit hard; the piano and strings on “Relapse” are still emotive and soulful. He supplies all the vibes we expect from R&B without any vocals, relying instead on powerful synth melodies, luscious layers, and strong rhythms. It’s quintessential DrewsThatDude. And those moments when he does break the mold a bit are wonderful. The beat switch at the very end of “Iced Tea” is everything. While the tracks may bear some similar traits, it provides the whole with a confident and cohesive identity.